St George Illawarra Dragons vs North Queensland Cowboys highlights: Dragons by 4

Roar Guru

28th May, 2016

4258 Reads

Kickoff: 7:50pm (AEST)
Venue: WIN Stadium
TV: Live, Fox Sports
Last meeting: North Queensland 36 – 0 St George
Referee: Grant Atkins
Head-to-Head: North Queensland 15, St George 12
Betting: St George $1.85, North Queensland $2
Last 5 Rounds: St George WWLWL, North Queensland WWWLW
Teams:

Dragons
1. Jason Nightingale 2. Kalifa Faifai Loa 3. Euan Aitken 4. Tim Lafai 5. Kurt Mann 6. Gareth Widdop 7. Benji Marshall 8. Leeson Ah Mau 9. Mitch Rein 10. Russell Packer 11. Jake Marketo 12. Joel Thompson 13. Michael Cooper

Interchange: 14. Jacob Host 15. Dunamis Lui 16. Siliva Havili 17. Will Matthews 19. Josh McCrone

Coach: Paul McGregor

Cowboys
1. Lachlan Coote 2. Kyle Feldt 3. Javid Bowen 4. Kane Linnett 5. Antonio Winterstein 6. Jahrome Hughes 7. Ray Thompson 8. Ben Hannant 9. Jake Granville 10. Scott Bolton 11. Gavin Cooper 12. Ethan Lowe 13. Jason Taumalolo

Interchange: 14. Rory Kostjasyn 15. John Asiata 16. Coen Hess 17. Patrick Kaufusi

Coach: Paul Green

Write for The Roar

Anyone can contribute to The Roar and have their work featured alongside some of Australia’s most prominent sports journalists.

Benji Marshall's coming home. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Robb Cox)

John Coomer

Roar Guru

28th May, 2016

106

4258 Reads

Match result:

The Dragons have made their return to the NRL’s top eight on Saturday night, claiming a 4-point wind over a North Queensland Cowboys missing some Origin stars.

REPORT: DRAGONS IN TOP 8 WITH WIN OVER COWBOYS

Final score
Dragons 14
Cowboys 10

Match preview:

The St George Illawarra Dragons host the North Queensland Cowboys in Round 12 at WIN Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:50pm (AEST).

The Cowboys thumped the Dragons 36-0 the last time the two teams met in Round 5 this year in Townsville. Despite sitting in the bottom half of the ladder, the Dragons are slight favourites for this clash with the fourth-placed Cowboys.

Both sides are affected by the unavailability of State of Origin players, especially North Queensland. The Cowboys have Johnathan Thurston, Michael Morgan, Matt Scott and Justin O’Neill all in camp with the Maroons, and James Tamou with the Blues.

The Dragons have Josh Dugan on duty with the Blues, but Tyson Frizell is available after being cut from Laurie Daley’s squad.

Ray Thompson and Jahrome Hughes will play in the halves for North Queensland, both with huge shoes to fill. Hughes is 21 years old and has played just one first grade game. That was with the Titans back in 2013.

Javid Bowen comes into the centres for the Cowboys for O’Neill, and Ben Hannant and Scott Bolton have been promoted from the interchange bench to start in place of Scott and Tamou. Rory Kostjasyn and Coen Hess come onto the North Queensland bench.

For the Dragons, halfback Benji Marshall returns from injury, forcing Josh McCrone onto an extended bench. Jason Nightingale has been moved from the wing to fullback to replace Josh Dugan, with Kurt Mann coming into the team on the wing.

Prediction
St George will never get a better chance to beat the understrength Cowboys than they have this week at home. They need a win to stay in touch with the top eight and should win a close match.

Join The Roar at 7.50pm (AEST) for live score updates and debate in our live blog.

106

Join the conversation

Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.